Brief History of Prenatal and Perinatal Work in Groups

During the LSD research of the 1950's and 1960's  patients often relived their earliest traumas, especially birth. Frank Lake (See Maret, 1997) began using LSD with groups of Anglican clergy throughout Great Britain.  At the same time, Stanislav Grof (2000) gained similar findings in his LSD research and illuminated the Birth Matrices and thus provided a valuable framework for this early material that arose spontaneously. Following the work of her father Wilhelm Reich (1972) and his student, Otto Rank (See Kramer,1996), Eva Reich created birth regressions in groups using pillows and blankets.

With the advent of cathartic work in group psychotherapy, such as Gestalt and/or Reichian- based work, pre- and perinatal material naturally emerged. Often, however, neither the therapist nor the client was aware that a birth sequence was being experienced. Or, only after the fact, were they aware and surprised by the prenatal or birth memory that arose. Arthur Janov, (1986) originator of primal therapy, worked with birth issues that emerged during primal sessions in groups.

One of the earliest forms of non-drug group work to purposefully evoke birth memories and experiences began with the use of breath and the eliciting of cathartic states. Similar but different models of breath work emerged and remain active today, such as the types of rebirthing offered by Stan Grof (Holotrophic Breath Work), Leonard Orr and Sandra Ray (1987) (Rebirthing), and Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks (1990, 1993). In these sessions, clients are attended by a fellow group participant, often called a sitter. The client, lying on the floor uncovered or in a sleeping bag or wrapped in a blanket (head uncovered) with eyes closed, is instructed to breathe in a particular way. As the breath becomes rhythmic and often faster over the course of the session, the client may experience unfinished psychological material, often the birth process. This process is also done in warm water.

Other approaches that helped clients experience and work with their birth process within a group context followed the primal model, developed by Arthur Janoff (1986).  Barbara Findeisen in the STAR process and William Emerson are the two pioneers with which I am most familiar. In the STAR process, participants receive one private and one or more group regressions in the course of a 10 to 17 day retreat. The client is wrapped in a sheet or other covering (head usually lightly covered) and guided back in time to the birth experience. Often group members press their bodies and/or pillows against the client's body to simulate the womb surround and contractions. With William Emerson and his trainees, group members experience various regression sessions, either through guided visualization or by members simply being placed in a covered, tight situation and encouraged to move through with support. Usually people work in dyads or small groups within the context of a larger group. Neither the Emerson nor the STAR process generally offers individual work with the therapist in the context of the group process. Please note, in both Emerson and Findeisen processes, there is always a built-in "stop," a code the client practices to indicate "stop, I mean it," and everyone in the group instantly stops what they are doing, checks on the client, and resumes only with the client's permission.

I began working with groups in the early 1970's using a somatically based Gestalt therapy model. Clients would occasionally move into birth postures but I had no idea at the time that was what I was witnessing. After encountering prenatal and birth material in numerous hypnotherapy sessions, I began to realize that participants were moving through birth sequences. It was not until the mid 1980's when I read Thomas Verny's (1981) book The Secret Life of the Unborn Child, and discovered the Association for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health and the professionals there, that I began to understand and shift my group work to include a pre- and perinatal focus. I brought with me the tried-and-true principles of Gestalt therapy where I conducted individual sessions and utilized the group to support the person who was taking a turn. This remains an important part of the model we use in pre-and perinatal group work.

As with any method or model it becomes refined over time. We must thank Ray Castellino (1995, 2000) for a more refined and very specific protocol for pre-and perinatal group process workshops. He applied his knowledge of the body, embryology and the principles of craniosacral therapy and polarity therapy to the group setting with adults. The research he and  Wendy Anne McCarty (1997, 2002) conducted with babies also contributed immensely to his group process techniques. Castellino added the process of setting an intention, which, in psychotherapy, is the Transactional Analysis concept of the therapeutic contract. He also contributed the practice of discovering and claiming one's turn in the process workshop setting.